If a picture is worth a thousand words, what if there is no picture

June 17, 2013

I was up Bright and Early this morning at 4:15am for the 5:00am departure to the Klutina River.  As I hit the highway, it appeared that the sun had been up for a couple of hours, the darn thing was in the NNE for crying out loud.  Jerry and I walked a mile or so through the Klutina and along the banks to reach a point where it met the Copper River.  There were a couple of “resident” gulls and arctic terns flying about but not many.  If the fish were in, there would be dozens of gulls and bald eagles.  They follow the fish as they migrate upstream and never venture too far from their next meal.  We gave it a couple of hours before giving it up for the day.  We’ll be back tomorrow.

I biked to talk with Walt, whom had reported reds being caught on the Klutina.  A neighbor had caught eight reds the night before at the mouth of the Klutina, at the confluence with the Copper River.  I relayed this info to Jerry then confirmed story firsthand with Dawson, the fisherman.  Dawson used a jetboat (an outboard motor that sucks in water, then jets it out in lieu of a prop) because a prop gets tore up on shallow rivers, to get to the confluence and dipnetted eight reds, a friend caught two additional through conventional means, hook and line.  Dipnetting is putting an oversized net (up to five foot diameter) into the water to scoop out the migrating salmon.  Dipnetters net the areas where the salmon congregate and rest while migrating.  That and my truck drove me back to the Klutina for a two mile walk to the confluence.  Two hours and nothing happened although the gulls and eagle were a bit more frequent.  During the hike back to the truck and would stop and fish or speak with fellow fisherman.  One flyfisherman had caught two reds in five minutes only to be displaced by someone else while attending to his catch.  This second &*@$%^@ fisherman caught one in that spot but it had since dried up.  They tend to swim upstream in large groups and hopefully this is a sign that the first are arriving from Prince Williams Sound by Cordova, Alaska.  A noticed a haze in the sky to the north while driving homeward.

June 18, 2013

Up at 4:15am for the days fishing and Jerry and I were soon southbound.  We could smell a bit of smoke and smoke drifted into the area.  Later I learned that there is a fire burning in the Chena Hot Springs area, northeast of Fairbanks (refer to your Alaska area map…it should be a “FAVORITE” on your internet by now) some 250-300 miles away and we were experiencing the smoke and haze.  Fishing was uneventful and it we gave it a few hours.  Nobody else had caught anything either so we departed for Gulkana.  Lunch at 10:00am was followed by a shower (to get rid of mosquito spray smell) then a three hour nap to catch up on lack of sleep.  As I write this, I am constantly reminded of the fire again changing the landscape.  The willow will come up like gangbusters in the upcoming years making that area a hotspot for moose feeding on the favored willow shoots.

June 19, 2013

Up early, a pattern is developing…fishing by 6:00am after a half hour drive and 15 minute walk.  Water was wicked, Jerry was disappointed and I fished an hour or less.  Spoke with another fisherman who had caught tree the day before and his current spot had yielded one this morning.  After the midday stuff at home, I headed back and busted brush to the Copper River.  Nothing along the confluence but on the way back I made a space just above two other fishermen along a tag alder choked bank.  After 30 casts I had my first red on the hook and had it almost within grasp twice before it made the third and final run.  It left the hook in a tag alder stump along the bank and it was gone.  I fished another half hour and walked back to the truck wondering what might have been.  Tomorrow I’ll have a landing net by my side that should do it.

June 20, 2013

Another early one and my body must be getting accustomed to the hour as I was awake by 3:30am but dozed until the 4:00am alarm.  Jerry and I split up as I headed back to yesterday’s scene of my crime.  After two hours of effort and one lost rigging I went to find Jerry.  I found him with one red and two that got away.  I joined him for a bit but that flush of fish was over.  Jerry did a quick fillet and bagged his catch before we walked the mile back to the truck.  Dieter was camping on the Klutina River and put six in the cooler in the last three days (one, three and two for the past days).  The daily limit is only three and he did achieve that once.  Being on-site has its advantages for fishing because you always are there for every run of salmon.  Jerry was now a bit more optimistic and we plan on returning this afternoon.  At 3:06pm I heard the low rumble and felt the shake of a minor earthquake.  The whole event lasted about five seconds.

The afternoon was the same as any morning and nothing exceptional happened on the river.  A few reported limit catches but by in large, most went away empty handed.  I watched the evening news for the earthquake report but it was a non-event as this state has between 5000 and 6000 per year/13 per day average.

June 21, 2013

Friday morning would be the last early morning for me because I have to shake things up.  We were either too early, too late or both to get the holes where fish held and were caught.  It was a cool 70 degrees today and the breeze was nice.  A little precipitation would be nice as the sand and dust covers everything.  The longest day of the year for everyone in the northern hemisphere but that is not an event for me.  I’ve had to shut things down while it is light out.  In fact, you lose all sense of time while working or playing outdoors as the sunshine and light never seem to fade.